Of Silence and Memories working title
by HobbitofRavenclaw
Summary: Dg and Glitch and random funess my plot bunnies are insane. Dont try to make sense of the math and if anyone can think of a better title Im all ears
1. Chapter 1

Okay it was three am and I couldn t sleep so neither can DG. She goes to find her mother and ends up going to someone else and... it got kinda fluffy......don t try to make sense of the math. Like I said it was three Am I was sleep deprived and I m not good at math at the best of times oh and the plot bunnies were feeling somewhat poetically rhetorical. Thats why there are phrases like 'high velocity bout' and 'Clumsy but graceful, an off kilter cadence that was a rhythm all its own.'

I dont own this stuff you should know this

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For the most part, it was quiet. There was the occasional rustle from the night breeze. The wind in the trees shaking the foliage so they laughed with secret whispers. Rarely, heavy boot-clad feet marched crisply past as a night guard patrolled the castle. Large loud boots that sounded so like those of the longcoats and -but no. No the witch was gone. The longcoats had surrendered during the eclipse last week. Peace was restored to the realms just last week as DG was restored to her family, just before Ahamo had left for the realm of the unwanted. Had chosen his life with Airofday over her and her mother and sister because she had let the witch out. She had abandoned her sister and now her father had abandoned her.

Dg threw down her blankets with an annoyed grunt. After 15 years in that tiny attic room, the palace seemed huge. DG felt alone and scared.

She could go to her mother. She saw it once on TV. A small child had gotten scared and crawled in bed with his parents.

Except DG didn t know where her mothers room was. She tried to remember if anyone offered to show her where the Lavender eyed monarchs quarters were.  
DG padded quietly down the hall. Maybe she could find it. Or maybe she could ask a guard.  
Someone might stop her and she could ask.

Yeah right. "Do pardon me; I m looking for my mothers room. You see I got scared and I wanted to sleep with her tonight." No thanks.

DG was ready to turn around and stick it out in her own bed, when she realized she had stopped walking and stood in front of a door. Muscle memory had brought her to some long forgotten sanctuary.

Curious as to who she might have visited so often that the path was still ingrained in a blocked away memory, DG knocked.

Footsteps approached. Clumsy but graceful, an off kilter cadence that was a rhythm all its own.

DG grinned even before the door opened to reveal her first and best friend.

"Glitch!" she smiled, hiding her surprise as best she could.

"Hi DG" Glitch smiled back, surprise and delight written all over his pale angular face. Come in." He practically dragged her into the room. It was rather messy and disorganized. Not what she barely remembered.

"I m still putting it all back together." Glitch said proudly, noticing her eyes rove about. DG nodded mutely.

"What with putting the realms back together, everyone s been really busy" he gave a small chortle that might be mistaken for imagined. "So some things got pushed to the wayside."

_Like his brain_

"But that hardly matters" Glitch bubbled on, ever the optimist. He stopped and smiled at her. Cheerful and childlike, but skirting vacant. As though he realized something important was just beyond his memory, floating in green goo and whispering in his ear.

"Oh!" His entire face lit up as the memory settled back down snuggly into his noggin, just under the zippered crown between his knotted curls. "A seat! Come on in and sit right over Oh...oh dear." All the chairs held large, heavy boxes. Inventions and equipment, blueprints and test tubes. Things that had no doubt belonged to Ambrose before the witch destroyed everything.

DG stood in mute wonder as Glitch, always the gentleman, tried to find a way to move the boxes around so DG could sit comfortably, chatting amicably the entire time.

DG walked forward and gently folded herself on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest.  
After a minute Glitch looked around and noticed she found a seat. He came and sat beside her. It was really more of a plop, crossing his long legs in front of him like they mad DG sit in kindergarten. Glitch watched her patiently and awaited an explanation as to her intrusion at such a late hour. She looked about the room. He had been reading. Something big and dusty, leather-bound and yellow with age. He wore reading glasses. They were thick and black and kind of square.

She looked at him, feeling small and childish. And rather silly. Just before she stood to go, Glitch shot out a hand. "DG?"

"Can I stay with you tonight?" It just fell right out and hung in the air between them, growing stale and cold. Anyone else would have laughed. But not Glitch. He just surveyed her with his warm eyes and half cocked smile.

DG looked around again as a memory bubbled to the surface. "I was here before, wasn t I?"

She had sat on this very bed, and Ambrose, with his immaculate curls but that same half cocked mischievous grin would tell her the most fascinating stories. There would be small life lessons incorporated in them. He showed great enthusiasm and much praise when she picked up on them.

It was here that she came, he that she came to with heartache or fears. Or just when she needed someone who understood her.

Or at least who could make a good cup of cocoa.

"Many times. When you were small."

"I ve been here before." she repeated more to herself.

He would bring her such wonderful toys. Toys he had made himself. Toys for Christmas or her birthday or just because. He had made toys For Azkadellia too, but she hadn t cared so much for them. Az had been practical minded, focused on her studies and learning her magic.  
DG, though, she wanted to play. To have fun. And so the windup Ballerina had been for her and the doll house that lit up was wonderful. More wonderful still had been the smile. The smile that lit up his face and warmed his brown eyes until they shined. The smile Ambrose wore when DG exclaimed in delight at the new treasure he made for her.

More wonderful still was the man himself.

"You. I came here to see you!"

_Way to state the obvious_

But again Glitch didn t laugh.

"You did so much for me. Gave so much of your time and energy and yourself . And I never had anything to give you"

"Your secrets. Your dreams. Hopes and fears" Glitch answered quietly. You shared them all with me."

DG blushed. "I wanted to catch up to you. Be the same age as you-"

"Hey you did it! Wow you ll have to rub that in Azka-ds face she said you couldn t-"

"Wait, Glitch slow down." DG laughed. "You were 22 when I left the Outer Zone and that was 15 years ago."

"Annuals." Glitch corrected. "15 annuals and I don t know how I survived them." He blushed as though he said something embarrassing.

But DG didn t laugh. Something Glitch had always liked about her was she never laughed at him, even if he did have a zipper where half his brain ought to be.

"Time flows differently here than the other side." Glitch continued. "Since we have two suns, our years are shorter.10 years make one annual, and we only age every 10 annuals. But I guess since you were there you aged every annual. I know I look a lot older but I m only 23" Glitch thought for a minute "And a half."

DG stared. "I-you-I-what?"

"DG? Are you okay?" Glitch held her lightly by the shoulders. DG nodded numbly. "Yeah just a bit-"She smiled. "I m fine Glitch" She had looked to him as a father figure and now she was practically the same age.

"Hi DG" Glitch smiled looking slightly disoriented, and Dg knew he must have glitched. "What brings you here?"

"The palace is big and I guess I got scared." DG shrugged. She didn t feel silly for coming to him now.

Glitch gave her a muted smile and pulled her into a hug. "You ve been here before DG."

"I know but that was a really long time ago."

"Well there s nothing to be scared of if-" Glitch broke off as a loud gust of wind whistled through the tree right outside. He dove under the covers, trembling from head to toe.

Dg pulled the covers up and looked down at him. Glitch grinned sheepishly.

"Nothing to be afraid of hunh?" she teased.

"I was cold" Glitch stated primly.

DG smiled and pushed the blanket back. "You sounded like who you used to be just then."

Glitch sat up eagerly "Do you remember him?"

"A little bit." Admitted DG "I like who you are now, Glitch."

Glitch smiled wistfully willing to pretend to believe her if it meant she'd stay and- oh yeas that had been the point yes

"Yes" he said so suddenly it startled them both.

"Yes what?" DG asked bewildered.

"You can stay. I'd like you to stay."

She wondered if that meant what it sounded like. Or maybe it was wishful thinking.

"If you re scared I mean" Glitch amended. "You can stay if you re scared but you don t have to. Only if you want to. I'm not scared."

"LIAR!" DG laughed and hit him with a pillow so Glitch fell off the bed. He jumped back up and grabbed another pillow. "You ll pay for that!" he cried, hitting her gently.

Dg jumped up and took another swing laughing and soon the pillow fight descended into chaos, with feathers flying everywhere.

"What in the name of samhell are you two doing?" Cain asked from the doorway. Jeb was a short distance behind.

"I'm protecting my honor" Glitch replied with Dignity. DG batted her eyes innocently.

"You two are the last straw. Cain sighed. "I can put up with a lot of stuff. Shot out a window, fine. Bitten by Pahpay, alright. Jumping off a cliff, sure. But you two are going to be the end of me and-why are you looking at me like that?"  
Simultaneously Dg and Glitch leapt off the bed and began pummeling the tin man with pillows.

"No! Get off me" Cain growled. Jeb recovered quickly and grabbed some throw pillows off the nearest chair. Cain s protests of childish games were drown out by DGs giggles and cry of 'tag team.'

After 10 minutes in a high velocity bout, the Cain s were able to retreat to the door.

Dg resorted back to her original target, Glitch. In retaliation, he pulled the covers off the bed and threw them over her, tackling DG to the floor.

"Are you kicking me out for that?"

"No" Glitch pulled the blanket aside so he could see her face.

"I already promised you could stay, if you were scared." Glitch furrowed his brow and tried to remember. "That is why you wanted to stay isn t it?"

Dg wriggled out of the blanket so their faces were millimeters apart. He didn t pull away.

"One reason" she blushed and kissed him.  
Again, Glitch didn t pull away, but returned the kiss.

"Then you can stay as long as you want."

"Woo hoo!" DG hugged Glitch softly.

"A princess does not 'woo-who'"  
Glitch said stiffly and scooped DG up, placing her tenderly on the bed.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but he just laughed and kissed her.

For the most part it was quiet. There was the occasional rustle of a restless leg whispering against the sheet. A small whimper from the sleeping man as that of a dreaming dog. More frequently a contented sigh from the blue-eyed princess. But mostly it was quiet. And Dg was comfortable in the safest place in all the realms; her beloveds arms


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Okay so originally this was a one shot but Azzy-Dazzy-123 requested a continuence. So this is dedicated to Azzy Dazzy .

As ever, if you want anything expanded on just drop a line. I take requests

Sliante,

Hobbit

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Despite the many quilts and soft down pillows upon the warm bed, Glitch had a cold heart. He rolled over again to her side and breathed deeply the scent. DG had again disappeared. Oh she didn t just vaporize into thin air. Didn t slowly fade away to nothingness. Physically the princess lived within the castle. But emotionally she wasn t there.

Or perhaps it was Glitch who had disappeared.

Perhaps he had evaporated from her heart like a fine mist after a morning rain. Perhaps with just a small shrug the way DG would do she shed him like she shed her Kansas life.

On to something better.

A certain curly haired-resistance fighter-son-of-everyones-favorite-tin man Something better.

Because it was an undeniable fact that DG was spending a lot of time With Jeb.

Glitch would gladly be happy for them, if she didn t keep stringing him along as well.

It was Glitch DG shot flirty glances at in front of her mother. It was his lap that her naughty little hand snaked to at the

dinner table. It was his ear that received hot whispers of hotter words at bed every night.

But it was Jeb she snuck off to see when no one was paying attention (which of course was when everyone was taking notes of

the happenings about the palace. Some for gossip others for scandal and a few just to know what was afloat.)

Glitch had to confront her. That was all there was to it.

But

If he cornered her and wrenched the truth, was he really ready to hear it?  
But on the other hand, for DG to continue paying lip service to his heart was unfair to his beloved princess.  
And her knight in shining armor.

Glitch sighed and squared his shoulders. He knocked twice on the door and opened it (it was after all his room.) In time to

see DG hurriedly shove a letter into a drawer.

"Glitch!" She smiled breathlessly, but the red tinge on her cheeks made it a little less convincing.

"We we need to talk DG." he gulped.

"Okay so talk." DG smiled and continued getting ready for dinner.

"Can I have your attention for this please?"

"I'm listening. I promise I am. I'm just running a little late and it s a rather big thing tonight." DG bubbled.

"The thing is- the thing is Dg that I you we." He sighed, not sure how to say it.

"Go on spit it out." DG pulled him along to the table.

"I know what s going on DG"

she stopped to face him. "You do?"

"Well yeah everyone does. They see you with Jeb late at night and whispering."

"Oh we were hoping to keep it a secret a little longer." she sighed.

"So that s the only reason you ve been spending time with me? As a cover?" He asked angrily "Did you ever love me?"

Escape he needed to get away. He was seldom angry -he thought- maybe... well okay he couldn t really remember.

But he was angry now, really angry.... angry enough to to to do something! Like yell or or walk into trees yeah he did that

once when he was angry. and now he was angry again. He hated being angry. It wasn t fun and it was bad and made him cranky.

Like Cain.

Glitch stomped to the table and plopped down. DG followed immediately after.

She was a lot better at being angry and more confrontational about it too.

"Of course I love you, you dolt!" She reared up and threw a spoonful of potatoes at him.

"Oh really?" Glitch replied, he pulled back his arm and let fly a handful of peas.

Yes for ages and ages now. Since the eclipse." She threw a roll. He ducked and it hit Azkadellia.

The elder princess took careful aim, but a snort of laughter made her redirect her target to Jeb Cain instead. He in turn

grabbed a nearby pastry and chucked it back. His aim went wild however and he ended up hitting the queen.

Cain led Jeb away from the table to have a private screaming match when he felt something hit his left ear. He looked up to

find the queen blushing between fits of giggles. With a smirk, Cain grabbed a piece of ham from a passing tray and lobbed it

at the queen.

The banquet soon turned to Chaos, with DG and Glitch in the middle of the table arguing so fast and non stop it was hard to

say who was saying what. After about 15 minutes, Dg realized her opponent was merely glitching and repeating the same

sentence fragment over and over.

She nudged his arm and led him out of the hall of flying food. "If you love me why are you spending all your nights with

Jeb?" He asked.

"It s the only time we have to talk. And well we were playing matchmaker." DG blushed.

"Matchmaker?"

"Well Adora she s been gone for a really long time and Ahamo left for the realm of unwanted. We figured Mother and Mr. Cain. He

s like a father to me. And Jeb says Mothers been like well a mother. So we thought if we could get them to fall in love...."

Glitch laughed and pulled a glazed pineapple out of her hair. "Why didnt you tell me?"

"I didn t think you d get it into your head that I had a thing for Jeb. I mean he's practically my brother."

"No I mean about your mother." Glitch smiled mischievously. "I know her better than anyone. I could have helped."

"Ohhhh" DGs big blue eyes went wide "I hadn t even thought of that! Well we have to start fresh tomorrow. You can help us

then."

Glitch shook his head. "Actually. I think tonight would do the trick." Glitch and Dg peeked back in to see Cain and the queen

standing intimately close. "See she just needs someone who'll keep her on her toes."

"A food fight?" Dg asked in surprise.

Glitch grinned and nodded. "It s how we first became friends."

DG laughed and took his arm. "Well I m glad that s through then. Now I get to spend my nights with you."

Glitch pulled her into a hug, gravy stained evening gown and all.

The night air grew chill and the fire went out just before midnight. But Glitch didn t care. DG was asleep in his arms and his heart was warmed with her love.


	3. Chapter 3

Glitch watched idly as the sunlight danced across the waves and played on DGs hair. He watched with a soft smile as a grin played across her face. They were out by the lake, he, and the royal family.

The queen and her newly christened Consort, Wyatt Cain were cooing like a pair of morning doves. And frankly, watching the Tin man all googoo eyed and soppy made Glitch a little sick. So he focused instead on the Dg teaching her sister a clapping game called 'Rockin robin'. Az was intrigued, Jeb looked nothing short of bored.

"Wish the long coats hadn t surrendered so quickly" He sighed. " I don t know what to do with myself."

DG snorted. "You can always enjoy the fresh air and peace. Why don t you go to the Tin man Academy?"

"And spend my career cornering Demilo in back alleys? No thanks" Jeb grumbled.

Azkadellia stuck her tongue out at her brother and grinned.

"Oh real mature sorceress" Jeb groaned, laying back in the grass. Both girls laughed and continued the game.

"What did you do out here as Ambrose? Jeb asked Glitch. The girls stopped clapping, listening for the answer.

"Oh we had a lot of fun! Glitch replied excitedly " I came out here and it -we. I ...what was the question?"

Azkadellia laughed again. "You taught us to skip stones. You explained all the scientific principals and everything. But in the end all we could remember was-"

Az grinned at Dg as the pair intoned "Flat rocks fly. Round rocks die. Flick of the wrist and give it a try."

Jeb got up with an evil glint in his eye. "Lets see how princesses do" He grinned, lifting Azkadellia up and tossing her into the lake. She let off a squeak of surprise and landed with an enormous splash. "Jeb Cain! So help me I will get you back for that!" she roared

Glitch and Dg laughed heartily. "Come on Doll your turn."

"5 Platinums she will make a bigger splash, she s more compacted than Az in that huge dress."

Glitch grinned and lifted Dg. "No Glitch put me down. Glitch" DG giggled, fighting halfheartedly "Put me down"

"As you wish" Glitch tossed her into the lake and waded in after her. "Ohh sorry Deege. that was nowhere near as big a splash as Azka-d."

"Cool. Jeb, pay up."

Jeb grumbled and began counting out the money when a loud noise from the swing caught every ones attention

With a shriek of laughter the queen landed in the lake. Cain stood on the shore chuckling heartily.

Glitch trudged back to shore. "So what sort of rhyme do you make for that? Azka-d splashed.... DG crashed"

" Revenge in a flash" The queen called as all three girls raised a hand. Instantly the men landed in the Lake beside the laughing women. Dg dunked Glitch under water. Az hopped on Jebs back.

"Chicken fight!" Dg yelled, helping Azkadellia climb onto Jebs shoulders.

"What? Jeb asked perplexed.

"Some othersider game I d imagine Azkadelia laughed. "You should hear about Spin the bottle!"

"Chicken fight, you sit on someones shoulder and knock the other team down."

"Dg I don t wanna fight Jeb." Glitch whimpered. " He s Cains son and Cain has a hero complex and a gun and he s married to my best friend and he would kill me."

"Scared?" Jeb teased. Without warning, and almost knocking Dg down, Glitch raised one leg and gave a high kick, knocking Az and Jeb back in the water.

Laughing Dg and Cain went forward to help them up. The queen followed a little behind, shaking with mirth.  
"Ambrose is a very good teacher. And the first thing to learn is not to insult him."

"Did you laugh at the Zipperhead?" Cain said in mock sternness to Jeb. "I ve seen him take out tougher guys without tryin, so don t feel bad."

Jeb shook the water from his ears and gave a bark of laughter. "Yeah I'll remember that."  
The queen surveyed her daughters who were whispering conspiratorially

"Well this is bad for somebody." She murmured.

"Ok ready to try again?" DG grinned, while Azkadellia climbed on Jebs shoulders like she was mounting a horse. Jeb rolled his eyes.

"Ok Ready Set GO." Glitch ad Jeb headed toward one another, but the laughing princesses jumped off and bombarded Cain.

"Ow hey get off No I m not even in the game DG I know this was you re Idea No not the hat Az give it back. Jeb don t you dare..."

Laughing, the queen splashed back to shore. Everyday she spent with her family she felt younger and more at ease. As she struggled to pull her war torn nation back together at least here in Finaqua, some odd little puzzle pieces were coming together, creating a picture of happier times, a memory times gone by and a glimpse into a hopeful future.

She knew whatever hard times lay ahead these five would see her through.


End file.
